No, there is not anything better out there. Bushmaster is the way to go, if you just want to start out in quality. You get the 5.56 chamber not .223(unlike Armalite), chromelined barrel(unlike everybody except the old Colt barrels, and some Armalite), a neccesity for a serious social AR15, not to mention it will last longer. Their barrels are made of 4150 steel(tougher), their flattop uppers are in spec unlike RRA(like, however Colt, Oly and Armalite, to be fair), and their past warranty work included a brand new barrel for my dissapator when I had some FTE's. Cost? Free, and the gun now extracts great. I also have an M4 upper by them, that I'm very plaesd with. Shoots like a dream.
All of my AR15's have older chromelined Colt or Bushmaster upper assemblies, and it's going to stay that way, no matter how many more I get.
I have ordered direct from Bushmaster thus far. I would have said Gunsmoke Ent. until the thread earlier today mentioned non factory parts sold as Bushmaster parts, which makes me leery, savings or no savings.
Juggernaut(an unapologetic Bushmaster apologist![:D])

Dennis Todd has some Colt M4 uppers, or did, at a nice price. I got a nice M4A2 14.5" bbl Colt upper for a little over $500 including bolt group. The BM is very good, and cheaper, but I prefer the genuine Colt when it comes to an M4 upper. Of course, I always sell that shaved "sporter" carrier that comes with it right away, and put in a BM or FN semi carrier(keep the MPC bolt, it has the carbine extractor with the little black thingy). JMO-YMMV